baycitygar,
The city did take possession of that house at 1216 Park Avenue last summer. According to information from the city, that property is slated to be demolished because of water, mold and animal issues. It's in today's General Information Memo from the city, just scroll down to Economic Development. http://baycitymi.org/images/20120323%20-%20general%20information%20memo.pdf
Thanks
Shannon Murphy

komrade and Abe, comments are not removed for being non-politically correct, but rather for violating our community rules. They can be seen here http://www.mlive.com/forums/index.ssf?rules.html
Anyone who would like to discuss moderation of comments can do so here http://blog.mlive.com/community_talk/2012/01/community_talk_thread_for_mliv.html

da3,
Just to play devil's advocate here, Michigan Sugar also supplies 2,400 jobs to the area. Don't you think a little give and take (a little bit of a burnt peanut butter smell) for jobs and putting money back into the community, is worth it?
Shannon

Hi everyone,
These comments are very interesting and I've enjoyed reading your debates and thoughts on this issue. Just a reminder about our community rules, we ask you follow them (they are linked above the comments if you need a refresher). Some comments were removed for personal attacks against a person or another commenter, as well as getting too far off topic. We welcome the type of debates going on here, but please stick to the subject and be respectful. Thanks!
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

Several comments were removed for violating our community rules, in particular personal attacks. You are welcome to discuss the topic of the letter and comments related to it, but please do not start fighting with each other off topic. If you have a question about why your comment was removed, you can go here http://blog.mlive.com/community_talk/2012/01/community_talk_thread_for_mliv.html
Thanks,
Shannon Murphy

These are all great! Keep 'em coming. For the record, I had put his food on top of the fridge, thinking he couldn't get to it (he loves knocking it over). Also for the record, I saw this, turned around and went back to bed :)
Shannon

Hollywood,
No one at Mlive is jumping to Ms. Hecht's defense. I felt it was appropriate to reiterate something that had been in her letter originally based on the comments this issue is receiving. I'm not sure who the original poster claiming she had a farm subsidy was, nor do I know if she actually gets a subsidy. I was merely posting something in her letter that was omitted in the editing process. I'm sorry you were attacked personally before and that is one of our goals now to prevent that from happening again. I didn't blatant community rules violations, however, I posted the link for reference in case anyone wanted to check them out and to prevent comments from violating them. I hope this answers your questions.
Thanks,
Shannon

Just to clarify, a small portion of Janet's original letter was edited for space for our print product. In that part, Janet said she does not receive a farm subsidy and there are several other Janet Hecht's in the state and even in Vassar. I wanted to point that out since it seems to be coming up again. Just a reminder to refrain from personal attacks and to follow our community rules http://www.mlive.com/forums/index.ssf?rules.html
Thanks,
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

A few comments were removed for violating our community rules (or they were replies to a comment that was removed, and therefore did not make sense anymore). If you have questions, you can check out or rules. http://www.mlive.com/forums/index.ssf?rules.html
If you would like to know why a comment was removed or discuss moderation, do not do so here. You can, however, do so in the community talk page: http://blog.mlive.com/community_talk/2012/01/community_talk_thread_for_mliv.html
Thanks,
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

Apologies to anyone trying to follow along. We're not able to get service inside the Detroit Economic Club right now. We'll keep trying, but please check back later for stories related to this event. Thanks,
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

Some comments were removed for violating our community rules. We welcome discussion on the story's topic but ask you refrain from personal attacks. Thanks,
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

Good-deed,
We added the day of the incident in the story. Our reporters are doing their best to post breaking news as it happens and when they do that, sometimes the time is the only indicator of when an event happened. But, you are correct, we shouldn't assume everyone is reading it as it happen. Thanks for pointing it out!
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist

Some comments were removed for violating our community rules, including personal attacks and discussion of moderation. If you would like to discuss moderation, you can do so here http://blog.mlive.com/community_talk/2012/01/community_talk_thread_for_mliv.html
This post was created to get input from the community, based on the facts we have. We are continuously working to gather more information and will post news stories on the subject whenever we can. Thanks
Shannon Murphy
Community Engagement Specialist